Play the Game Tonight
by Kitte-Wolf
Summary: She thinks of this as a game. But is the price too high? Apologize, Zatanna's POV. T for suicide.


**I don't own Young Justice or Play the Game Tonight. Those belong to DC and Kansas respectively.**

I walk out of the theater, grinning at the wonderful blonde beside me. I knew somehow that this was wrong, that I should have just come out and told him…

But I couldn't bring myself to. I mean, he's wonderful and amazing, but he wouldn't understand. I enjoy my relationship with Robin, but I don't feel the spark anymore. I stay with him to keep him happy. Now, Mark, on the other hand, I feel an amazing spark. When I hold his hand, it just… It just fits. Strangely enough, I've been feeling a different emotion in my relationship with my other boyfriend. I feel nice knowing that he's happy because of me. I wouldn't be able to take it if he weren't happy. I mean, he keeps so many things from me, why should this be any different?

_You think that something's happening_

I slip behind the theater with Mark, and we share a kiss. I think I might've accidentally let some noises by, but nothing too big… he's just so wonderful, the gentle way he probes by tongue with his, the way our lips mesh… The way I fit into him. We were made to be, we were a match made in Heaven, by God.

I slowly break apart from him, whispering a heartfelt see you soon before making my way to the fifth street zeta platform. I step in, still basking in the light that is Mark.

_**Recognized: Zatanna B08**_

I step out of the zeta tubes into the living room. I watch Robin turn around, and I brighten a bit at seeing the smile he's wearing.

Then I take a plunge into the iciest waters in the Arctic when the smile slips from his face.

"When were you going to tell me you were seeing someone else?"

_And it's bigger than your life_

A ball of ice forms in my stomach. Using my knowledge of him, I find the hopefully right words to say and I spit them out, hoping he swallows these lies like all the other ones I've been feeling.

"Robin, I don't know what you saw, but it's not what you think!" Tell him he was seeing things wrong, get him doubting himself. My eyes go wide. I'm desperate. Desperation always gets him. The Team is in the backdrop, but I ignore them. "It wasn't what it looked like," I continue. He'll swallow it. He always does, just get him doubting himself, it's his biggest weakness. "Robin, I need you!" Not true, but you need me. "You're truly the only one for me, I promise, I swear! I'll even give you my word if you need!" Please don't let it come to that, please.

He shakes his head and closes his eyes as I step forward, about to wrap my arms around him in a hug. "Robin, I'm sorry if you think I'm cheating on you, but I'm not!" Appeal to his soft side. Apologize. Play this high-stakes game one moment longer. He turns even further away from me, holding up an arm to keep me at a distance. No, no, no, this can't be happening! It's not working. God, why isn't it working? Normally this works, normally I can keep him safe!

_But it's only what you're hearing_

It's just like when I let Nabu possess me, like when I let him possess my father. After that, I promised I would never lose another person I care about ever again to the evils of this world.

He turns back to face me again, and for a moment my hopes soar. I think he's swallowed the bait.

"No." With a single word, my world comes crashing down. How dare he! Can't he see that he needs me? That I need him?

"What?" I'm still reeling. Still flailing about in the darkness of my mind from his unspeakable betrayal. I love him! He's my little brother!

A voice pipes up in my head. Would I have done this if I truly thought of him as my little brother?

"It's too late. I know exactly what I saw." I can't see his eyes, his beautiful eyes. If I could, I would see he was joking with me… Wouldn't I? He has to be joking!

"Look, what do you think you saw? Because I can promise you, that it's not what it looked like!" I'm desperate. I can't lose him. Come on, I just need to win this game one more time…

_Will you still remember_

"You've been cheating on me." I can't detect a smidgen of emotion in his voice. It's devoid of emotion, completely, entirely.

"I'm sorry, but-" I have to get my Robin back. I begin the routine again, this time apologizing first- he likes apologies, but he interrupts.

"No! No, you're not. Zatanna, it's too late for you to apologize." I can hear a tinge of betrayal in his voice now, how dare he think that I'm betraying him? All I have is his best interests in mind!

Another doubt pops up. Do I really want what's best for him, or what's fun for me?

I squash that doubt, retaliating.

What? Robin, I… Please, Robin, let me explain!" My eyes are as wide as I can push them.

"No. I don't want to hear any of your excuses, your lies, or your empty promises."

Dear God.

Is he Batglaring at me?

_When the morning light has come_

I feel like he just punched me in the gut. To think I love this little stuck-up blind kid!

"I'm sorry! If you'd just let me explain-!" He interrupts me. Again.

"No, I know I saw you sucking face with that one blonde. Zatanna, it's too late."

_Will the songs be playing over and over_

"Robin! Just listen to me! Just listen to what he's implying!" Get him to think he's wrong. That always wins this game.

"I know what I'm stating. There's no implying about it-" This time I interrupt him.

"Just let me explain!" I glare at him. Why didn't that work? It always works!

I am not listening to another lie you say. Zatanna, it's over. You don't get to use me any. More," he growls, placing emphasis on the last two words before turning and stalking out of the room towards his room.

I hear the door slam down the hall.

_Till you do it all over again_

"Zatanna, what? What's going on?" Artemis asks, and I turn to face the blonde.

"He thinks he saw me making out with another guy," I reply. Maybe I can turn the Team over to my side…

Wally glares at me. "Stop lying. I've been watching you for a while, you know that right? Someone has to take care of Robin, and you're doing an awful fine job. Cheating on him. Hmph. I don't know why I ever liked you." The redheaded speedster turns away, crossing his arms over his chest. I can feel Conner's glare almost burning holes in my shirt and I am really glad he doesn't have heat vision.

"Why?" I hear M'gann's broken question. "Why would you cheat on him?"

"I'm not," I growl, glaring.

"I believe that the evidence says otherwise," Kaldur joins in. "But Wally and Robin have seen you cheating on him. And I have no doubts that if M'gann were to probe your mind, she would find it true."

"You can't! That's a betrayal of privacy!" My glare intensifies.

"That's right. We don't even have any proof of Robin's statements, other that Wally and Robin's words," Raquel comes to my rescue, hands on her hips. I might just win this little battle here.

_Play, play the game tonight_

"You little bitch," Wally speaks next. "You don't know when to stop, do you? This is all just a game to you. But I'll tell you one thing." The ginger turns face me completely, getting right up in my face. "One of my friends in Central killed himself because he caught his girlfriend of a year and a half cheating on him with his best friend. You have no idea what cheating on someone can do to them!" He then stalks off to the couch, sitting down and crossing his arms, glaring at the TV.

"You're lying!" I call over to him. "No one would kill themselves because of cheating."

_Can you tell me if it's wrong or right_

"Keep telling yourself that, player," he calls back over his shoulder. Raquel places a hand on my arm, and I turn to face her.

"Maybe you should go straighten things out with him, right now, without us spectating," she suggests, and I nod.

"I'll go do that," I reply, turning and walking slowly and deliberately down the hall. I stop in front of the door, knocking on it once.

_Is it worth the time, is it worth the price_

"Robin, please, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! It was an accident!" I hear a clang from inside his room, the unmistakable sound of an airvent cover hitting the ground. I gasp and turn, sprinting down the hall back into the kitchen.

"He went in the airvents!" I choke out, worried. What would he do in his mistakenly heartbroken stupor? Surely when Wally said that someone had killed himself because of his girlfriend cheating on him he had lied.

Right?"

_Do you see yourself in a white spotlight_

"What?" Wally was by my side almost instantly. "Fuck! He can get anywhere in the mountain through there! God, who knows what the Hell he might do!"

Artemis' eyes went wide. "I'll check the training room."

"I'll check the bathrooms!" Wally sped off.

_Then play the game tonight_

"I shall check the hangar," Kaldur stated, walking towards there. The other four just stood there, M'gann too upset to do anything, Conner comforting her. Raquel just snorted, while I worried. Then, after a bit, Conner straightened up just as Wally sped back in.

"Artemis found him they're on the top of the mountain," he says, and Wally speeds off, pushing himself as fast as he can go. The rest of us follow as fast as we can, and when we get there, we see Artemis sitting there, her and part of the mountain top soaked in blood, Wally and Robin nowhere in sight.

"Where are they?" Conner growls.

"Wally's running him to the nearest hospital," the blonde chokes out, tears welling up. "Oh, God, you should've seen what he did."

"What?" My eyes are wide, there's blood everywhere and it's not Artemis'.

"He… He wrote on his arm," she replies, turning the bloodstained birdarang over in her hands.

_When the curtains open, to the roaring of the crowd_

"Gullible. Idiot. Tool. Worthless. Toy. Oh, God, just… Why, Zatanna?" Artemis' broken expression changes to rage. "Why'd you have to do that to him, you fucking whore? He trusted you! Hell, I think he even loved you! And you turn around and stab him in the back! Is this all just a game to you, to see how long you can keep the other person in the dark? Go die in a hole, you damn bitch." Artemis stalked down back into the cave, turning to talk to Kaldur for a moment. "I'm going to go see if Wally got Robin there in time."

I just stand there, dumbstruck, to the glares of everyone but Raquel.

_You will feel it all around you_

Conner just growls, leading M'gann down towards the hangar. They're followed by Kaldur, leaving Raquel and I just standing there on top of the mountain, alone.

"You really did cheat on him, didn't you?" She says simply, before heading downstairs. "I don't ever want to see your lying face ever again."

_Then it finally happens_

What? Now she believes them? More voices of doubt beleaguer me. It was always about me. I never cared about him. If I truly had any feelings for him, I would've told him from the start.

"Stop!" I scream, my hands flying to hold my head. "Just shut up!" I wish that the birdarang was still here, then I could…

Think about Mark, I tell myself. There'll be nothing holding you back from seeing him, being with him, loving him.

_And the songs are playing over and over_

But what if Robin doesn't make it?

All the more reason for me to spend more time with Mark. I wouldn't have to see his back-stabbing face ever again.

But what if it's all because of me?

So what? Mark won't care, he won't have to know…

My lies are what tore Robin and I apart.

No, it was his lies!

He told me everything at my insistence. How he's Dick Grayson, how much he sometimes just wants to join his parents…

So, if he dies he will join his parents.

These lies are murder.

_Till you do it over again_

"No!" I scream out. "I am not wrong! I refuse to believe that I was in the wrong!"

But I was.

No, I wasn't!

He's going to die, and it's all because of you.

No, he's not going to die he's fucking immortal!

No, he isn't.

How do you know?

Because he's only human.

Bastard.

_Play, play the game tonight_

That bastard just has to be only human. Why couldn't he be an alien? Why couldn't he be Martian, like M'gann, or Kryptonian, like Conner?

Because if he was, I wouldn't love him.

"I don't love him! I'm in love with Mark!" I scream, tears streaming down my face. The voice is silent now.

_Can you tell me if it's wrong or right_

I spend half the night wallowing in self-pity until I receive a phone call from Raquel.

"It's over," she says. "You don't have to worry about him anymore. He rejected the blood transfusion."

She hangs up, and I cry harder.

_Is it worth the time, is it worth the price_

Robin's dead, and it's all my fault. Maybe Mark will be able to cheer me up…

_Do you see yourself in a white spotlight_

I head down to the zeta tubes.

_**Recognized: Zatanna B08**_

I love Mark.

Sure. That's what I said about Robin.

Stupid voice.

_Then play the game tonight._


End file.
